The Scottish Naturalist. 239 



have been none for twenty years at least ; whether there were 

 any before that I am unable to say." 



Buteshire. — The Jay is not now met with in this county ; 

 but the " Jaepy" is included in the list of " fowls and birds 

 abiding or coming in their seasons " in a manuscript account 

 of the Natural History of Bute, written by John Blain, commis- 

 sary of the isles, about the year 1800. a 



Ayr and Wigton. — In the counties of Ayr and Wigton, the 

 Jay is far from common, although a few pairs are sometimes 

 observed. It has according to Messrs. Gray and Anderson b 

 been much destroyed on account of its thievish habits. 



In the New Statistical Account of the parish of Kilbirnie, Ayr- 

 shire, it is included in the list of rare birds of the parish by Mr. 

 John Jamieson. 



Kircudbrightshire. — In the county of Kircudbright the Jay 

 is very rare, and I have been unable, after many enquiries, to 

 find any trace of its breeding in the district. It is, however, 

 possible that a few pairs may yet be found in the county. 



Dumfries-shire. — The Rev. James E. Somerville, late of 

 Langholm, kindly sends me the following information. He 

 states, that the Jay does not occur in Langholm parish. In the 

 parish of Canonbie, five miles below Langholm, " it is found, but 

 not abundantly ; a few pairs breed but it is not increasing." It 

 is met with altogether in about seven or eight places in this 

 parish which is of considerable extent. On the Springkell 

 Estate, the Jay has not been seen for upwards of nine years ; 

 but it is reported to have been known at one time in that 

 district. In the neighbourhood of Annan and in Hoddam 

 parish, the species is also quite unknown. 



Dr. Grierson of Thornhill informs me that " The common 

 Jay has not been known in Nithsdale for a very long time — 

 some forty or more years ago — but about that time I have 

 heard it said there were a few." 



- Roxburgh and Selkirk. — I am informed by Sir George H. 

 Leith, who has kindly made many enquiries for me, that there 

 are no Jays in either of those counties. A gamekeeper in 



« Geology of Arran, by James Bryce, M.A., LL.D., &c.— 4th ed. p. 301. 



b On the birds of Ayrshire and Wigtonshire. Proceedings of the Natural 

 History Society of Glasgow. Vol. i. p. 294. 



